The Super Mario Galaxy Movie may be all fun and games for the brothers spending their time in a new world, and as the only plumbers in Princess Peach’s realm, they’re helping keep the peace rather than fixing faucets. But none of them are exactly equipped to deal with their ruler’s current existential woes. When Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy) admits she doesn’t know where she came from, the story quietly opens a larger mystery, one it only partially resolves.
That thread leads into the absence of Rosalina (Brie Larson), whose kidnapping by Bowser Jr. sets the events in motion. He leans fully into the shadow of his father, eager to prove himself through familiar cruelty. When this sequel is straightforward and paint-by-numbers, there’s not much to be excited over.
A Luma is sent to the Mushroom Kingdom to ask for help to rescue their princess. Had Peach been the main character, I’d love this film more. But even when she gets “captured,” it’s up to Mario (Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day) to save the day. Beneath that simplicity, however, sits an oddly fragmented sense of worldbuilding. While each kingdom is aware of one another, contact is very minimal. That absence raises questions the story never attempts to answer. Are these independent fiefdoms scattered across a wider galaxy? Disconnected storybook realms stitched together by convenience? Or something more artificial, where kingdoms and rulers exist as a kind of default setting for each world?
Even the travel system reinforces that ambiguity. Warp pipes function less like infrastructure and more like narrative shortcuts between unrelated spaces. And although we can’t see it, they are wormholes. The film accepts this without explanation, leaving the setting feeling less like a cohesive universe and more like a collection of familiar ideas arranged side by side.
Where the movie lands most naturally is in its humour, especially when it acknowledges its own internal absurdity. A moment where Luigi questions how quickly Yoshi (Donald Glover), a dinosaur, is accepted into the group stands out precisely because it briefly punctures the otherwise unexamined logic of the world. That self-awareness delivers one of the few laughs that feels genuinely earned. Even though fans were expecting more, what’s offered is very much in line with what Nintendo wanted. Just put him in, no explanation needed for where he came from or why he was found in a pile of rocks when the brothers went spelunking.
Tonally, the film leans into cosmic spectacle, adopting a bright, sketch-like rhythm that calls to mind The Muppet Show‘s “Pigs in Space.” It moves quickly, prioritizing momentum and visual variety over deeper narrative grounding. Like its predecessor, it translates gameplay into cinematic set pieces rather than applying reason on why destroying bricks and eating mushrooms exist in a semi-real context. When the entire film exists in this fairy tale world, any notion of real world physics is wholeheartedly nixed. As a result, I favour the original over the sequel, when we saw the climax take place in Brooklyn, New York, as we had to deal with kaiju-style action.
A broader franchise direction is also taking shape. While it’s great that Nintendo is allowing its properties to become cinema, the executives are still keeping a firm hand on interpretation. This hints at a future where its franchises interact more freely, recalling the crossover energy of The LEGO Movie. That trajectory naturally invites speculation about what comes next, with Star Fox standing out as an obvious candidate because of its existing structure and stakes.
Writer Matthew Fogel gives the characters just enough grounding to exist beyond their game mechanics. The dynamic between Bowser and his son adds a familiar comedic rhythm, leaning into exaggerated familial dysfunction in a way that occasionally echoes Sanford and Son. In a galaxy-spanning story, the stakes rarely move beyond what the games already establish. This big turtle remains a familiar force of chaos, yet never quite becomes something larger in cinematic terms. Directors Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic focus more on expanding the world than escalating its conflicts, keeping the film in a mode of exploration rather than culmination.
In the end, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is simply a colourful, fast-moving adaptation that embraces the spirit of the games while stopping short of reshaping them. It broadens the universe and keeps the momentum intact, but leaves the overall direction open-ended, more suggestive than resolved.
3 Stars out of 5
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie Trailer
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